The shore is where we feel at home
by Srinalyn
Summary: The sand gave way beneath his palms, and he pushed himself up and onto his feet, jogging over to the nearby shore. He stood there for a moment, letting the breeze blow against him, digging his toes into the soft sand, moistened by the sea. (can be interpreted as platonic or romantic)


"Hey hey, Riku. _Riiiku_. Did you know that ketchup is technically a smoothie? Like, a tomato is a fruit, and smoothies are made out of fruits. It just. It makes sense! You can't tell me I'm wrong here."

Riku looked over at him, eyelids heavy and drooped, and nodded slowly.

"You're right, I can't. I can tell you to go to sleep though."

"You're right, you can. But do you ever look at broccoli and think about how they look like little trees?"

"Yeah, I used to. You know, when I was like 6 years old."

Sora pouted, jutting out his bottom lip, "are you calling me immature, Riku?"

"Well, I'm not calling you mature."

"What a meanie!", a laugh left Sora's lips, loud and abrasive compared to the silence of the night.

Riku rolled his eyes, "maybe so."

Silence stretched out between them, the only noise being the soft crash of the waves against the shore outside their little tent. Sora rolled over onto his back, and let his arms splay to his sides, his left hand lightly brushing against the fabric of Riku's shirt.

"Hey, Riku, you're not asleep, right?"

He looked over at the taller boy, attempting to judge his status based off of his facial expression, but remained clueless despite the lack of a response.

"Riiiku."

"I'm still awake."

"Oh, cool."

Riku made a low hum of acknowledgment, turning his head slightly to look at Sora with sleepy eyes.

"Do you ever think about what you're going to do after all of this? We obviously won't be keyblade wielders forever, and there won't be much to do once Xehanort's taken care of, right?" He paused for a moment before continuing, "I think I'd like to come back here, to Destiny Islands. I just… I really like it here, and I'm glad we were able to sneak back here for a night. I have good memories of this place."

He carefully gauged Riku's expression, watching and waiting for a response.

"Hm. Guess I'll have to come back here too then, can't have you here without any competition. Who's gonna keep you in shape if no one'll race you, huh?"

"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that last part."

"I'm not wrong."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. But hey, I'm pretty glad you wanna come back with me!" Sora poked Riku in this ribs, "maybe I can finally beat you in a fight, yeah?"

Riku snorted, "Yeah, in your dreams."

"Actually, you win even in my dreams, so bad choice of wording there."

"Wow. Your subconscious must not want you to succeed then."

"I know, so mean."

Another bout of silence took over, and Sora listened to the wind rustling the leaves of the trees. The sound had him suddenly wishing to feel that same wind against his skin, tussling up both his hair and Riku's. He looked back at his best friend, and nudged him lightly.

"Hey Riku. Wanna sit on the beach for a bit? It's cooler than earlier, and the wind seems like it'd feel nice. It's a little stuffy in here, and I'm not that sleepy right now."

Riku grunted, throwing a sleepy glare Sora's way.

"...fine. I'll be out in a second."

A grin quickly found it's place on Sora's face, as he sat up and crawled out of the tent as fast as he could. The sand gave way beneath his palms, and he pushed himself up and onto his feet, jogging over to the nearby shore. He stood there for a moment, letting the breeze blow against him, digging his toes into the soft sand, moistened by the sea.

He heard light footsteps behind him moments later, and looked back to see Riku approaching him, hair a mess from both his lying down and the current wind blowing it into his face. He came to a stop next to him, and stared out across the ocean.

Sora smiled, "hey."

"Hey."

"Feels nice, right?"

"Yup."

Sora took a few steps forward, just far enough so the water could barely lick at his feet. He didn't need to glance back as he knew Riku was stepping up to join him, still a little out of it from his drowsiness.

Neither of them said a word, waves gently crashing against their feet, wind blowing and carrying the scent of the ocean through the air. Riku breathed in, letting out a content sigh as he took in his surroundings and the calm aura of the island. He glanced to his side, and took a look at Sora, who stood with his arms at his side, a light smile gracing his features. It had to be contagious in a way, as the same smile somehow managed to find its way onto Riku's own face.

"We could take on the world, just you and I, you know."

Riku blinked, "Huh? ...oh, yeah, we probably could." he paused, "but you know, Sora, I think you could take it on all by yourself if you wanted to."

"Nah, I doubt it. Even if I could, though, I'd still want you to be with me."

"Why, so I could show you up all the time?"

Sora cast him a sidelong glance, cheeks puffed out, "Hey, I'm sure I could be better than you in some things."

"Sure, maybe like… 2 things."

"Hey, just second ago you said I could take on the world by myself, and now you're saying I couldn't show you up in more than 2 things?" Sora crossed his arms and sent a sly smirk his way, "keep your story straight, Riku."

"Hey, can't feed your ego too much, it's big enough as is."

Sora snorted, "You're one to talk."

Riku hummed and ran a hand through his hair, "My ego is just as big as it should be, considering who I am."

"Wow, what a narcissist."

Riku stuck his tongue out at Sora, who was looking back at him with a dopey grin. They both let out quiet chuckles, and Sora turned back to stare across the ocean, a gust of wind blowing strands of hair out of his face.

A strong wave rolled across the water, slowing and shrinking until it reached Riku and Sora, crashing against their ankles, lightly spraying sea water against their legs.

Riku let a content smile settle on face, sifting through the sand with his toes.

Sora sighed, placing his hands on his hips. He paused and looked at Riku from the corner of his eye, "We'll be back here in no time, right Riku?"

Riku nodded.

"Yeah. We will."

* * *

**Hi! First time writing these two, and it was pretty fun. I hope this was nice to read.**

**You can find me on both tumblr (oddly-tiny-scissors) and twitter (tiny_scissors) :)**


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